Moving to Spain!

[almost_there]

I was so pleased to read the responses to the Sevilla question! I have been waiting and waiting, almost a year by the time I actually get back to Spain, saving money, pinching pennies and almost losing my mind getting ready to move abroad. I had this outrageous notion of saving at least $10,000 for the journey and I\'m almost there. In fact, I will surpass it nicely! I cannot wait! My job has drained almost all of my creative and positive energy (I work for a prominent American media company) but that will soon be renewed (I\'m counting on it). Good luck to all of you...[addsig]

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[Molly]

Excellent almost_there! Much luck but sounds like you´re going to do fine  [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_nod.gif\"]



Question for you if you don´t mind...  What was your last time here like? Travel, study? Have you been to Seville already or going there now for first time?



Just curious as everyone who´s been here before seems to have really good info -- I came last year and ended up back in U.S. after two months, tried to live back in the states but couldn´t get Spain off my mind and got lucky to be able to return... I write to you from the midst of Andalucia (today it´s more like the ´mist´ as it´s been raining and pouring the past two days!). I´m going to post a message to the living in Spain thread, as I´ve had a few experiences getting things stolen and want others to be cautious -- as americans we´re assumed to be rich, which I think is partly why things get swiped. Anyways, back to work and hope to hear from you![addsig]

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[almost_there]

Hey Molly,

I have been to Seville on a couple of occasions. The last time I was there was almost a year ago, in fact I\'m arriving in Spain almost to the day of when I last left. Since my post, I\'ve purchased my ticket and put my deposit on a CELTA course. I\'m quite thrilled, but getting more and more nervous. First of all, I studied French in school, not Spanish. That might be a bit of a setback, but total immersion is the way, right? And secondly, I\'m American and a bit worried about the visa situation. But, I\'m also young, I don\'t have kids or a house or husband, so whatever... If I don\'t take the gamble now, I’m not going to take it. And after two years starting up my "career" I should take the leap now before I get too comfortable.



Molly, what is it that you do in Spain?



I plan on teaching, like everyone else on this board, but only enough so that I can afford rent and food. I definitely don\'t need a super high-paying job and based on conversations that I\'ve had with people, I should be able to support myself on 25-30 hours a week (tutoring, whatever). I\'m also taking a pretty reputable course in Seville. As far as the language thing goes, I\'ve had an introductory class here in the States, but I didn\'t find it very helpful. My teacher spoke almost exclusively about the "old country" while neglecting basic grammar lessons. But I recently splurged on a series of books and cd\'s. Let\'s hope I learn something from that! Also, it seems like a great way to meet people is to take a course once I\'m there.



Sorry to babble! I\'ve got 35 more days at the office and have yet to put my notice in. I\'ve got all this pent up anxiety and enthusiasm that I’m forced to stifle day after day for fear of being told "well, why don\'t you leave now? Let me help, you’re fired!" I\'ll tell you why "I need the insurance and a few more paychecks to deposit in my savings! Haven\'t you noticed that I live at my childhood home (rent-free) and wear new clothes once in a blue moon and eat right out of the microwave or from the dollar menu?! Wake up, I\'m leaving folks! but now quite yet..."



but working under these conditions is driving me mad. I have no passion left for publicity. in fact, I never seemed to muster it. Nevertheless, what I find most frustrating is that this is the kind of job English majors are supposed to kill for once they get out of school. Face it, I’m not going to make what a computer science grad makes or someone out of law school or what have you. I have no interest in these fields. what then am I to do? in my town the only kind of writing jobs you\'re going to find are for the health care industry or congressional newsletters. man, thinking about it makes my teeth ache.  and moving to a place like new york grants a new and overwhelming kind of stress. no space, more hours on the job, steep competition. I love ny, but I don’t care enough to be ready for it.



What I seek in moving to Spain is a complete lifestyle alteration. a change of perspective, really. I need more time, you know, to really foster who I am as an individual. do I have the character to stick it out in a completely foreign land, where I don\'t know the language or custom? Do I have the confidence? do I need it to improve other aspects of my life? this complacency that I see myself falling into should I remain and move up in my arbitrary career could lead to complacency in other important areas of my personal and professional life. I might become complacent with buying a house in a city that bores me because interest rates are low. I might choose to spend my life with someone because they make me feel stable. I might buy a fast, modern new car because it makes me feel good on my drive to work. These aren\'t bad things, but should I choose these things, they have to be for the right reason. I know that they make me happy because I know that I’m happy with the life that I’m living. but I know that\'s not quite true, not yet at least.



i\'ve always had this gnawing sensation in my head and chest urging me to move abroad. my obsession with maps and atlases are one thing, but that hunger and drive, you know, the kind that gets at you behind your eyes when you think about it or in the deepest realms of your gut when you take that "dream" job, that\'s what really propels me. I can\'t "settle" down until I know what I’m settling into, which is me.



ugh...I could go on and on about this but I’m at work. they probably scan what I do throughout the day and, like I said, i\'ve got some doctor\'s appointments scheduled and some more money to save. So, let me save my ass... but i\'ll be checking in now and again, dreaming of my ex-pat life.



best...

[addsig]

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[Mel328]

Wow you wrote out my feelings almost exactly. I leave for Spain in 47 days and I\'ve been second guessing myself over and over again as the day draws closer, even though I know I\'m absolutely miserable here.



I\'m about to graduate from college at 23 and I\'m still living at home. I couldn\'t afford to get a dorm. Rents in New York are high and jobs are being slashed left and right now. My only qualification with my degree is teaching Spanish and the education system in my city is undergoing huge cuts right now because of the billion dollar defecit. So I figure if I\'m going to do this, now is the time.



I have the benefit of being more or less fluent in Spanish, but I\'m going to Catalunya so I\'ll have to learn at least some Catalan. I\'m also very fortunate to have an incredible friend over there who has helped me out amazingly. She found me a contract job for the summer (which I ended up not being able to take because you have to file for it there and I didn\'t see the point in spending $400 to fly to Spain for like 2 days to file for a temp contract) and an under the table job that I can have as long as I want it. The temp job is EXACTLY what I would love to do in Spain - tourism. The permanent under the table job is retail and I only get Sundays off [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif\"]  But it\'s a job, it\'s waiting for me and I have it for as long as I want it. I figure I\'ll keep it while I search for an ESL position or a tourism position - which are my true passions.



Like you, I\'m going to Spain because I can\'t fathom spending the rest of my life here stuck in a job that never changes and living in a culture that puts work above all. The things I value are a lot more simple. I just want to live in a place where people live life for the pure joy of being alive and work to enjoy their days off, not to buy big expensive new things.



I\'m just so nervous about the no visa thing... and exactly what I\'m going to do in the fall. I\'ll be spending the summer in my friend\'s house helping her out with her kids in the morning so she can do her housework. But I don\'t want to invade on her house after September - and I have no idea where I should go or what I should do!



But it\'ll all work out in the end... Something will happen, for better or worse. I\'m scared to death to be doing this but hopefully a year from now I\'ll still be in Spain and will be enjoying life rather than trudging through every day without any feeling at all.



Good luck to you - Especially with learning Spanish! If you apply yourself to it, it\'s not that hard. I\'ve been studying it for four years and people tell me I speak very well. There are a lot of Spanish vocab and grammar resources online - make sure to check them out now before you go!



Melinda[addsig]

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[maratl2]

Melinda,

Your last post sounds a lot like the email I just wrote to my very apprehensive parents, explaining to them why I am moving back to Madrid after I graduate in May, lol.  I spent a summer in high school studying in Barcelona and a year in Madrid in college.  I have miserable since the moment I stepped off the plane (both times), back here in the US.  I understand what you are going through 100%.

The truth is you won\'t really NEED to learn Catalan, but if you want instant friends there, then being a Catalan-speaking gringa will will definitely score you points!  [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif\"] I studied 2 semesters of Catalan in college and assure you that if you speak Spanish fluently, you will have no problem picking it up.  A good book I can recommend is "Teach Yourself Catalan".  I think I got it at Barnes and Noble.

Good luck!



Mara[addsig]

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[Molly]

Awesome almost_there --and others below!



I traveled care-free in mid-twenties and for some reason never could muster the nerve to do the english teaching and real ´living´ abroad that I wanted to... it was almost too much at the time so I understand your anxiety very, very well. I ended up back home and the end result wasn´t sooo bad, but I can tell you that that ´desiring to leave and exerience the world´ bug never left me... I´m now doing what I wanted to then, as a single mom nonetheless with child in tow as well, and still nervous about succeeding but with much more resolve about staying.



I´ve experienced the U.S. in a similar fashion as you -- got hired in tech field after graduating with CMU degree and am traveling/living off of overtime wages I was able to recoup this past year from my 60-plus hour work weeks I was never legitimately paid for. When that all came crashing down, and Greenspan & Co. economics destroyed all my ´riches´ I´d been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to acquire, and Bush & Co. wouldn´t put a dime towards retraining for displaced dot-bomb workers... I decided that it was time to fall back on something that may end up more reliable, give a better quality of living for myself and family, and feed the creative, growing drive I think you were referring to as well -- not easily found in corporate America. America is a great country, but there are other life paths as well, and I´m still proud to be an ´American abroad´ but trying to figure out exactly what that means at the same time.



As americans we are very socialized (speaking of my understanding of average, middle-class, graduate high-school, onto college and then the big world folks -- my experience with economic cultural socialization) to pursue our ´dream´, whatever that may be, in a 9-5 step by step work your way up fashion... and if your parents are like mine, fairly conservative (and catholic to boot which for them fits into the ´homebody/patriotic/subservient´ mold they think everyone should pursue as well) it can be more difficult to make such a huge leap, especially since it is so uncommon in their generation for anyone other than rich retirees or hippie drop-outs. Now we have cool Web sites like this to network and share info/resources with a whole cadre of talented, ambitious people pursuing various creative lifestyles... and to help negate the social conditioning that doesn´t support alternative, creative life paths or adventures -- I think we are very fortunate!



Keep the faith -- be VERY safe, I just got ripped off again (I have a very energetic child that kept me out at park etc. for hours, got tired and feel too safe where I am so left purse for a second on chair, turned and it was gone, disappeared... been pretty depressed the last two days at this stroke of bad luck, even after I was telling others to be cautious!) .  I have lots to worry about now unfortunately, as they got son´s ID, passport, birth certificate, etc. so I just don´t know this second how afraid I should really be... we were obviously being watched.



Forgot the question you asked --- my work right now is completing the TEFL I´m taking online, look for english work, be much, much better at safety/money issues, keep my son happy and healthy and myself as well -- I´m swamped at the moment   [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_nod.gif\"]



In encouragement and friendship, Molly[addsig]

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